Saturday, May 12, 2012

HP Photosmart 945 5.3 MP 8x Optical Zoom

R.I.P.

HP PhotoSmart 945 5.3MP Digital Camera w/ 8x Optical Zoom

No, it's not the same feeling as seeing a dog run over on the road. But it is a sinking feeling. I've used that camera since 2004, and it's been a great camera. It took most of my England photos. I've got huge posters on my wall from photos I took in Yorkshire. They are not the least bit pixelated. I used this camera for all my blog post photos - with a few exceptions, like the photo above which I found on a search for a replacement. But who wants to buy a used camera. How *used* is it? Is it at the end of its life?I had set my husband's old work boots on the deck and was going to take a photo of them. They were beautiful. By that, I mean that they are Wolverines, my favorite boots, those well-made, comfortable boots that one wears for years and doesn't discard lightly. So I carefully set them on the weathered wood and snapped the shutter button. The display showed vintage pink, blurry boots. Trust me - they're not pink. And I know enough to hit the 'Macro' button, so they shouldn't have been blurry.
Ah, then my camera automatically shut down and said that the batteries were depleted. Phew! So I went into the house, tracked down another set of batteries, and tried again.Same thing.
Ah, then I remembered that I had already formatted this SD card several times, so maybe the SD card was worn out. Okay, I'll get another SD card.
For this camera, it's not easy to find a plain SD card. All the new cards are SDHC, and they don't work in this camera. BUT, Walmart did have another SD card, so we bought it. Phew!! (But I'll have to admit, my confidence that this would be an easy fix was waning rapidly.)
So I put in the new SD card, and took the broom outdoors to sweep the maple seeds from the deck where I would lovingly place the old workboots before getting the photo.
I tried again....holding my breath...
...vintage pink blurry image.
So sad.
And I don't even know if I can bear to throw it out. (Tear slides involuntarily down cheek.)So sometime this spring or summer, I'll need to buy a new camera. Actually, I'd rather just have the old camera back because I KNOW IT. A new camera means another unplanned expenditure, another attempt at comparing/contrasting cameras, another instruction guide to read, most likely written by someone whose first language is not English? and another camera to understand.So here's what I'm looking at right now:

14 comments:

I have no idea about cameras so I won't be of any help, but I do understand the sadness of losing a trusted friend and having to learn about a new one can be daunting. I have a feeling you will be happy with your new camera, once you decide on one. =)

A camera that works for you is hard to find. Mine is not expensive or really fancy, but it does what I need, and as my kids say "it has jiggle control" so I don't get blurry pics. Can your old one be fixed?Have a good Mother's Day.

My older camera still works but I don't use it anymore. I got a new one in 2008 when I was forced to retire because of my health. It's the one I use now and can you believe, it is now getting old. Our modern age - they expect us to keep on buying, again and again because you can't get parts for the old. Sorry to hear your camera died.

Mom say's its not easy to pick out a camera, she a canon owner so you do tend to stick with the same brand. Can you get to a shop and look at them side by side, see how they feel to take a photo, the weight can make a big difference.Check the shutter lag of each one, its the time its takes from you pressing the button to the camera taking the photo the faster it is you are more likely you will get a blur free shot in all shooting modes.You should be able to find a chart on the web that tells you.

All camera's these days take good photos I just takes time finding the right one that suits you.Have a good weekSee Yea George xxx

Your account here almost becomes moving as you describe the demise of your camera. It's difficult letting go of a machine that you are familiar with.

George the Lad speaks wise words about comparisons & in a real camera shop you can gain more experience & advice before going away & thinking about it again.

I don't want to be telling you things that you already know but one of the good things about expensive fancy new cameras these days is that you can still take it out & capture an image simply on program mode. When you get comfortable with that & how the camera works, you can move on to learning about aperture & shutter priority for movement, blurring or sharpening backgrounds. The manual for my camera is 358 pages long & needless to say I haven't read it yet. I use it as a reference tool to find out what I need particularly in the early stages for example ... when it came to formatting the card & then more advanced techniques such as ISO settings later. There are a lot of things I still have to discover after 16 months as I scroll through the entire contents of the menu that I can cross reference with the manual that I don't need right now but I want to experiment with that next year.

The expenditure freaked me out as I have never ever paid more than the equivalent £200 for a camera before & my initial budget had to double in price. Whichever choice you make I'm sure it will be a good one, just make sure it is right for you.

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